First, for the reviews:
- Many pointed Lloyd's actions during his talk with Zelos were kind of overboard. Actually, Lloyd didn't intend to fight Zelos or anything like that. He just brought his sword for intimidation purposes, he didn't actually intent to use it. I though that Zelos saying Lloyd not to bring something out unless you intended to use already gave you all the tip to what I meant when I wrote it.
Anyway, here's another chapter and with a skit as compensation for the lateness! This one is between the girls (for those who have bad memory, it is between Raine, Sheena, Marta and Colette):
Meltokio
Sheena: I can't believe we just had to run into that idiot. I hate this city!
Colette: Sheena, I know you don't like him, but you shouldn't hate the city just because of the one person you don't like living here.
Sheena: It's not just that. Most of the descendants of Tethe'alla's nobility also live here and the Church of Cruxis is heavily biased in their treatment.
Raine: In that case I have to agree with Sheena. This city doesn't seem to have changed too much from how it was during the war.
Marta: You've been here before?
Raine: My father was a human, an emissary of the last Tethe'allan King. I came to this city once with him. It's not a memory I'm particularly fond of.
Sheena: I can imagine. Meltokio loses only to Ozette in half-elven prejudice.
Colette: That's so sad. It's like they learned nothing from everything that happened.
Rainer: Humans are stubborn creatures.
Marta: Heh, says the one that whenever sees a ruin begs to let us wait to have a chance to study it.
Raine: I don't know what you're talking about.
Sheena: Either way, we shouldn't spend much time here. Let's just get our business over with and leave as soon as we can.
Raine: Running away from your problems, won't make them disappear.
Sheena: You say that just because you don't know what it is to have a perverted dog eying you like you are some piece of meat.
Raine: I wouldn't say so. Back in my time in Sybak I did have my... admirers and had an amorous affair.
Colette: Really? With who?
Raine: I might tell you someday.
Marta: I wonder what kind of man would call Raine's attention.
Sheena: I think she's ling. Unless the guy is a maniac for archeology too.
Raine: Say's the paragon of seduction.
Sheena: What does that mean?
Marta & Colette: *sigh*
Chapter 23
The Angel, The Princess and The Last Romantic
Lloyd walked into the abandoned halls of the Meltokio Coliseum. Dust accumulated in the old carpet and some of the furniture was either broken or showed sings of termites eating away at the wood. Lloyd then passed by the old waiting room and entered in the arena. There he could see Sheena training with Marta, as Raine was writing in her large book while watching them. Looking further to the side, he saw Colette talking with Lumen and Emil discussing something with Tenebrae and Aqua.
Sheena and Marta locked weapons again, the ninja trying to blind her adversary by releasing a bright flash from her seal cards. Marta closed her eyes the moment she noticed it and jumped back. She opened her eyes once noticing the flash had passed and spun on her place, sending several wind blades and disks towards Sheena, who expertly dodged all of them, however, the disks stopped in the middle of the air once they missed and homed again on the ninja, who dodged once more. It seemed Marta was coming along nicely with controlling her powers.
Lloyd sat down next to Raine. He asked what she was writing.
"I'm basically chronicling our journey and findings, as well as taking notes on the development of our powers," Lloyd asked why she did that. "It's important for one to take notes on his experiments and works, so he will not commit the same mistakes again. Also, it helps in the learning process. You should try it, Lloyd."
"You mean, like studying?" Lloyd asked, as Raine nodded at the red clad swordsman. Lloyd cringed at the thought. "I think I'm fine the way I am. Besides, I doubt I would be able to write down half of what you do, Raine. You're just smarter and more observant than me."
"Thanks Lloyd, but you shouldn't underestimate yourself. You are a very intelligent young man when you want to be," Raine said with a rare smile on her face.
Emil, Tenebrae and Aqua stopped speaking and were looking at Lloyd once they caught up the conversation he was having with Raine. The Centurion of darkness commented:
"Did Sir Lloyd notice that he just unknowingly flirted with Lady Raine?"
"I doubt it," Emil said.
"Hey! Colette!" Sheena called the blonde girl as Marta left the middle of the arena, sweating a little but seeming content with her progress. "Your turn. Come over here."
"Um... I don't think that's a good idea, Sheena," Colette said in a hesitant tone.
Raine stopped writing when Sheena called Colette, dedicating her full attention on what was about to happen. Marta sat near Emil and the couple, together with the Centurions, observed the blond girl. Lumen nudged Colette with his pawn, showing his goofy smile as he encouraged her:
"C'mon, Collie. I bet you can kick Lady Sheena's backside," Sheena raised an eyebrow at that, but decided to disregard the comment.
"C'mon Colette," she insisted.
Seeing she didn't have much of a choice in the matter, Colette slowly got up and walked to the center of the arena. She started feeling nervous as the rest of the group eyed her. She just hoped she didn't screw this up.
Sheena gave a reassuring smile to the girl, who could only fidget as she stopped near her surrogate, older sister. Sheena then asked:
"What kind of weapon do you use? That is, if you have already used one before," Sheena asked, noticing how strange it sounded just after she spoke it out loud. She never took Colette for a warrior, even though her grandfather and the other clan leaders agreed to train the girl.
"Well... Um... I used these... metal, disk things once," Colette said, remembering the sharp rings she once threw at her enemies.
Suddenly, the sound of earth moving was heard and the group looked to the left of Sheena. There, coming out of the earth, as if Colette herself had called it, was the half of a bladed disk. Colette was surprised to say the least, while Sheena recognized the weapon. Raine took notes in her notebook at great speed.
"You mean that?" the ninja asked her surrogate, little sister, who nodded. "That's a chakram and it seems to be made out of metals from the earth itself," Sheena said as she approached the half-buried weapon and tried to pull it out, but found herself unable to do so. She tried again, but the metal disk wouldn't budge an inch. "Colette, how do I get this thing out?"
"Um..." Colette approached and reached for it, taking the round blade out with apparent ease. Sheena was impressed to say the least. "Oh. It came out pretty easy."
"I suppose it responds only to Colette," Raine offered from her seat.
"Actually, I'm pretty strong. I was the strongest girl in the entire school, even more than the boys," Colette said.
"That must be due to you being a Summon Spirit," Aqua suggested. "Just like Sir Lloyd can withstand high temperatures and Lady Marta can use magic."
Raine muttered a "probably" before going back to write in her book. Sheena turned her attention back to Colette and started to instruct her on how to position herself. She was content to see the blonde learned it quickly. She always thought Colette would be a pretty dedicated student.
A pity we never got to train her. She would have been an excellent ninja. Sheena thought as she gave the instruction for Colette to throw her weapon, however, when the girl was about to take one step forward, she lost her equilibrium, flaying her arms in the air and falling on the ground. Except stealth isn't one of her strong points... Sheena thought, a sweatdrop running down her forehead as she remembered the girl tended to trip on the most improbable places, even when there was nothing to trip on.
After three attempts, Sheena finally managed to make Colette throw the chakram at least once without falling. The blonde kept apologizing herself each time she failed, thought Sheena said it was ok. It was then the voluptuous ninja remembered Colette also had the habit to apologize for almost anything she failed at. Although it got pretty tiring after some time, Sheena thought that was one of the things she liked on Colette. It made her look all the more innocent.
"Ok. Now, attack me," Sheena said, positioning herself.
"Wait. Are you sure, Sheena? I don't want to hurt you," Colette said with a worried tone.
"C'mon Colette. I'm pretty tough, remember? Anyway, throw it what all your strength, I wanna see just how strong you are."
Looking from her weapon to her teacher, Colette decided to do as she was told. She positioned herself and brought her arm back, preparing to throw her weapon. She then spun and released the disk with all of her might, making the projectile sail in the air at an incredible speed.
Sheena widened her eyes and barely had time to position herself in defense as the metal chakram impacted with the barrier produced by her cards. The weapon was deflected, but the impact was so strong Sheena was pushed two meters or so behind, sliding on the ground as she kept her defensive stance.
Colette recovered her weapon as it seemed to home in back to her. She then gasped and asked if Sheena was alright. The reincarnated Luna got out of her defensive stance and walked back to her previous position with a smile on her face.
"I'm fine. Man, you're a lot stronger than I thought," Sheena said. "What did you mother feed you?"
"Well, I always ate some steak. We also had salad at lunch and..." Colette started.
"Colette, I was joking."
"Oh, sorry."
Sheena sighed. She then asked Colette if she knew any Artes. The girl was about to answer she didn't know any when, suddenly, something sprung to her mind, like an invisible voice was whispering information to her.
"I think I... know one," Colette said with uncertainty. She wondered if that had been the Summon Spirit inside of her talking.
"Ok then. Try it on me," Colette was about to protest, but Sheena cut her. "I'll be fine. C'mon."
Deciding to do as she was told, Colette closed her eyes for a brief moment, concentrating on the information that came to her mind seconds ago. She could feel an untapped power inside her rush to the hand with which she held the chakram. She let go of the weapon and, to everybody's surprise, it stayed floating near her hand.
Colette then raised her arm, the chakram accompanying the movement. The metal disk then started spinning in the air like a chainsaw. Colette then raised her arm high and moved it down, like she intended to throw the weapon on the ground.
"Spinning Wheel!" the blonde said as the weapon hit the ground and buried half of itself on the stone. The weapon continued to spin, digging the ground and raising rocks and dirt to the air as it scarred the earth on its way to Sheena.
The guardian user never saw an Arte like that. She noticed the chakram was already close and jumped to the side, avoiding it. However, Sheena didn't count on the spinning, round blade making a turn on the ground and coming from behind her.
Lloyd called out her and Sheena turned just in time to see the spinning chakram coming near her legs. Cursing herself, Sheena tried to jump again, but was too slow this time and blade caught the side of her boot, opening a nasty cut on her foot and hitting it with surprisingly hard stones.
Sheena hit the ground, feeling the pain on her right leg as the chakram went back to Colette and jumped out of the floor for the blonde to grab it. Colette was about to run to Sheena and ask if she was alright when she noticed something red on her chakram. The reincarnated Gnome looked at the weapon and her eyes widened at seeing blood dripping from the blade. Sheena's blood.
Suddenly, images came to her mind: the Exubella, the corpses of the citizens of Iselia being torn apart by spider-like demons... and Maki dying in her arms. Colette let go of the weapon, which was immediately reabsorbed by the earth, and clutched the sides of her head, muttering in an almost desperate tone:
"No... I didn't want to... I didn't mean to... please... not onee-chan too," tears came to Colette's eyes.
Raine had already kneeled near Sheena and easy healed her foot. The ninja got up in time to see Colette falling on her knees with an expression of horror and shock on her face. Sheena rushed to the girl as Lloyd and the others also got up from their seats and approached them. The reincarnated Luna kneeled near Colette as she continued to mumble to herself, seeming to have shut off from the world around her:
"I didn't want them to die... Maki... don't have onee-chan dying like Maki... please..."
"Colette, calm down. I'm here," Sheena said putting her hand on the girls shoulder, trying to get her out of the stupor she was in.
"No more, please... no more death... I can't fight, or else someone might die..." Colette continued to say, tears falling freely from her horror struck eyes as she remembered the words of Alice in that day that her world came down once more.
Sheena didn't know what to say. She then did the only thing she knew that could possibly help the situation; she hugged Colette and kept the younger girl's head on her shoulder, stroking her mane of golden-blonde hair. Colette kept mumbling for one more minute or so until she finally seemed to calm down and went to sleep.
Raine and the others approached as Sheena carried Colette in her arms. The half-elf of the group then said:
"I think that's enough for today. It's clear we won't achieve anything by pressing Colette any further."
For once, Sheena nodded to Raine and the group turned to leave the Coliseum…
- / - / - / - / - / -
After putting Colette on her bed, Sheena left the room, sighing as she leaned on the closed door. She knew they couldn't advance any further in their journey if they didn't managed to get Colette to pass the test to recover the half of her soul, but she couldn't force her surrogate, little sister to do something she dreaded either.
Raine also wasn't of any help. When she asked if the half-elf had any idea on what to do of the situation, Raine simply said:
"How should I know? I'm an archeologist, not a psychiatrist. I thought that you, as her onee-chan would have some idea as what to do," she dragged a little the term that corresponded to "older sister" in Mizuho's language.
Sheena had to control herself not to strangle the healer at that comment (that and having Tenebrae, Aqua and Lumen restraining her). How should she know how to deal with someone that had a trauma? Now the ninja found herself at a dead end.
We can't drag things along too. For one: we don't have enough money to stay too much in the city. And two: we don't know how much time we have until the demons decide to make a move. Sheena thought to herself.
"This sucks…" Sheena said as she let her head hit the table she had been sitting in as she reflected on all of that.
"I wonder how we could help Colette," Emil thought aloud.
"Maybe you could talk with her. You did it before and it worked, right?"
Sheena had a slight idea of what Emil might have said to Colette. The two seemed to think alike in many things and had similar experiences. If it wasn't by the fact she knew Marta would go on a murderous rampage, she would even try to support Emil and Colette to try a relationship.
Speaking of which, she still had to figure out what was wrong with the brunette. Marta was clearly jealous of the two blondes, but what she said before... could she be hiding something more? Sheena let her head fall on the table in frustration once more.
I swear. Marta must have met Raine before for her to keep so many secrets like that…
- / - / - / - / - / -
Marta thought for the third time if this was really a good idea. By one hand, she wanted to know. By the other, she kinda dreaded what she could hear. Also, it wouldn't be really fair of her to interrogate Colette right after the girl had an emotional breakdown. But maybe that would help the blonde to keep her head away of such thoughts.
Or maybe, this is just my selfishness speaking. Marta thought to herself.
She knew she could be quite selfish sometimes. She wanted attention of her subjects ofinterest and sometimes even went overboard to get it. She knew she could be quite annoying when doing that and tried to tune things down, but often found herself going overboard again, mainly when it pertained to Emil.
Sighing and finally making up her mind, Marta knocked on the door. Colette's voice came from inside, indicating she had already woke up, saying for her to come in. Marta opened the door and entered. Colette had changed into her yellow summer dress and white pants and was greeting Marta with one of her typical radiant smiles.
Marta was once more reminded of just how innocent and angelical Colette looked. She was charismatic and easy to talk with, as well as kind and selfless, everything Marta considered herself as lacking.
At least her figure is practically the same as mine. Marta thought as a consolation.
"Hi Marta," the blond girl said, sounding like she never had relieved any traumatic memories.
"You don't need to force yourself to smile to me," Marta said. "We all are your friends. We just want to help you, you know."
Colette's expression turned one of surprise when Marta said that. The brunette thought the least she could do was tell Colette she didn't need to put up an act around her. Colette fiddled with her fingers for a moment before looking to the Whirlwind Rider as she said:
"I'm fine. Really. You don't need to worry."
Marta sighed, knowing that Colette was just telling that so she wouldn't worry with her. She guessed there was no point in trying to pursue that any further. Deciding that she had enough of beating around the bush, Marta said:
"I wanted to ask you a question."
"Oh. Sure, go on," Colette said, her typical smile returning full force.
"Be honest… how do… um… what do you think of Emil?" Marta asked, unable to phrase the exact question, so she tried the nearest one to what she actually wanted to say.
"Hum. Well, he's kind and nice. Also, he's a good listener. I feel I can really trust him. Oh, and he's also quite strong, though he doesn't seem to think that," Colette said in such an honest tone that it caught Marta with her guard down.
"So… you… like him?"
"Of course!" Colette said, always with her smile in place.
The brunette almost jumped at how easily Colette had admitted it. She never thought the girl was so sure of what she felt for Emil and now Marta felt like a dagger was being thrust in her heart. Even so, she couldn't help but feel like she knew the entire time this would happen. She just had hoped it wouldn't be so soon.
"Um, Marta, are you alright? You look like you're about to cry," Colette asked her friend.
Indeed, Marta felt like tears were coming to her eyes, though she was trying her best to hold her emotions at bay, but it was proving to be useless. She then wiped her eyes before the tears could fall, while saying:
"I-I'm not. A-and… I hope… I hope that you two be happy together!" Marta yelled at the blonde, dashing out of the room and almost running into Sheena, had the ninja's highly trained reflexes not kicked in at the right moment for her to press herself against the wall.
Sheena could just look with a dumbfounded look as she saw a teary Marta running down the stairs and out of the Inn. As if things weren't awkward with Marta already, now the girl was crying. Marta rarely cried. And even so it took a lot for her to go into tears like she was now.
Just what the hell is happening here? Sheena questioned.
Colette then poked her head to the corridor, looking at where Marta had gone. Sheena saw the blonde giving a confused look, which was then replaced by one of guilt as she asked:
"Was it something I said?"
Deciding some damage control was in order here, Sheena decided to started by the one person that was probably the sanest one out of their entire group, traumas aside. She went to Colette and put a hand on the young girl's shoulder, leading her back to her room as she closed the door behind them.
The voluptuous woman then started to think on how she could explain to Colette what just had happened while trying to make sense of Marta's actions. She decided to start by gathering some information on what just occurred:
"Colette, what were you and Marta talking about just now?"
"She asked me what I thought about Emil and if I liked him," Colette said.
"And what you answered to her?" though Sheena already had an idea of what it had been.
"I answered I thought he was nice and that I liked him and she suddenly started crying and ran off saying for me and him to be happy together,"
Colette said all of that with such innocence on her tone that Sheena thought that the "like" to which her surrogate, little sister was referring couldn't be a romantic one. Marta, obviously, wasn't able to notice to that.
One more thing was also curious in all of that: what happened for the brunette to suddenly throw her "I'm not letting go of Emil without a fight!" police to the air and suddenly Marta turn from possessive into crying mess. There was absolutely no sense in any of that.
There's something missing here, but I just can't put finger on it. Sheena thought.
"Um… Sheena, what did she meant with 'be happy together'?" Colette asked her new, combat teacher and surrogate sister.
"Well, you see…" Sheena started, thinking on how she could tell Colette that in a way the girl would understand. "Marta thinks that… you and Emil are together, as in a couple."
Colette's eyes widened at that and she covered her mouth with her hands. That act alone confirmed what Sheena had thought previously: Colette didn't have any feelings for Emil beyond friendship. The reincarnated Gnome then said:
"Oh my. I have to tell her she got it all wrong. I like Emil, but he's a friend to me. Just that."
"I don't think she's going to listen to that now. You better wait until she calms down and then explain all of it."
"Yeah, but she seemed so sad. And I don't even like Emil that way, or any other boy for the matter," Colette tried to insist and added at the end.
"Not even Lloyd?" Sheena asked. Not that she really wanted to have her little sister falling for her crush, but it was a fact that wherever they went Lloyd called the attention of the opposite gender.
"No. Actually…" Colette then started fiddling with her fingers again, pondering if she should tell about that to Sheena. She didn't remember how they dealt with this on Mizuho. But she's my onee-chan. She said she would always support me, no matter what. "I don't feel attracted to any men."
"Well, can't really say I blame you for that. Most of the guys are just pigs, or…" Sheena started, but Colette saw the ninja didn't catch what she meant.
"No. What I meant is; I don't feel attracted to men, as in, the gender."
It took Sheena some seconds to connect the dots. When she finally did, her eyes went wide. Did Colette just tell her that she was…? Sheena looked at the blonde again, who found she couldn't keep eye contact with her surrogate, big sister for more than one second and looked to the side, her cheeks flaring.
Oh my god. She is! Sheena mentally exclaimed.
Sheena had seen many things in her life and she had saw lesbians before. After all, they meant it when they said that all kinds of people frequented Asuka's. She even suspected some of her co-workers were gay, though she had nothing, but guesses as evidence. However, Colette, her little sister... that was more than she expected.
"I know it's strange and everything, but…" Colette started, taking Sheena out of her stupor. She then noticed the tone Colette was using and quickly spoke.
"Whoa, whoa. It's not that. Sure that was unexpected and, I can't say I ever imagined you being one… but are you sure about it?"
Sheena had seen some people confused about their sexual orientation before. Asuka frequently played councilor for many citizens of Asgard (though Sheena insisted that she should charge them, considering the number of people that frequently asked for her advice) and she sometimes shared some of their stories with Sheena, since she knew her adopted daughter would never go around telling people's secrets. Also, the half-elven woman thought it was good for Sheena to see that she wasn't the only one with problems in the world.
Anyway, the Radiant Maiden knew something like what Colette had just suggested was something that would greatly affect one's life and, if she suddenly changed idea, it could be already too late.
"I am," Colette said.
"Think carefully, Colette. Because this is something that will follow for the rest of your life and if you…"
"But, Sheena…"
"No, listen. You can't simply decide you changed idea in the middle of the way. So you have to be positive about your choice and…"
"But I even already kissed a girl."
"I don't want to see you go through a path just to hurt yours… wait. What?" Sheena said, before registering what Colette had just said. "What do you mean by 'kissed a girl already'?"
Colette blushed at that and tried suppress the memories of Maki dying in her arms as she thought on the specific memory of the day she and the red head had avoided being captured by the Desians.
"Well… there was this girl in Iselia… her name was Maki. She was a great friend of mine ever since I started in the school there. I never realized it, but I had a crush on her. Every time she would… interact with our other friends, I felt a little jealous, but I also like it when she was around me. And, one day, we were in the Iselia Forest and… she kissed me."
The rest could be deduced by Colette's blush. Sheena had already seen that expression before. It was that of a girl that had her first kiss and enjoyed it. The ninja sighed and scratched her head. She still had some doubts about it, but if Colette already experienced something…
"Ok, ok. I get it," Sheena said, sighing again. "If that's what you think, then ok, I will support you. But if I see that you started having second thoughts on this, I'm going to drag you out of it before you can hurt yourself and I won't hear a word edgewise, understood?"
Colette smiled at her big sister and nodded at her as Sheena did the same with a gentle smile. The blond girl knew Sheena only meant that because she cared for her a lot and would rather throw herself in front of Nebilim himself than let something bad happen to her. It was one of the things that she appreciated so much in Sheena.
- / - / - / - / -
Marta just stopped when her legs were already aching. She didn't care about her surroundings, but noticed she was in the plaza at the middle quarters. Sitting in the nearest bench, she let some of her tears flow, lowering her head so her hair hid her face. She hated feeling like that, but there was little choice on the matter.
She's better than I ever could be. Besides, if Emil and Ratatosk ever discovered about… she didn't like to think about that little detail of her life, it was the one thing that she tried to ignore every time she was together with the reincarnated Summon Spirit.
Marta never revealed this particular secret to anybody. She knew they would start looking at her accusingly once they knew. After all, it was her family's fault that the world was in this situation. Even so, she tried to act like there was nothing wrong. She kept on trying to hit on her crush and made sure anybody she saw as someone who wouldn't make him happy stay away from him.
That was, until Colette came along. The blonde and Emil shared similar experiences, he had said so himself. Plus, she was somebody that, according to Sheena, was one of the few people with an innocent and gentle heart that still existed in this world. Somebody like that surely would be able to make Emil happier than she ever would. For one, Colette didn't any shameful secret to hide.
"That's not right," a voice spoke from above. Marta looked up and, to her surprise, found Zelos there. "You know, a pretty girl like you shouldn't be crying like that," Zelos said in that flamboyant, soft tone of his.
"Oh, and you certainly would know about that," Marta said, managing to add a sharp edge to her words, despite her situation, as she wiped the tears. She wouldn't show weakness in front of this heartless bastard that played with women's hearts.
"Oh. Ouch. What did I do to deserve such a cold treatment?"
"Don't play dumb. I know about what you did to Sheena, you asshole."
Marta rarely swore, but she did say she would give the guy a piece of her mind if she ever came across him again. Sheena was her friend and this guy had hurt her pretty badly. Zelos' eyes seemed to widen for an instant, before they assumed a sad gleam as he looked to the side.
"Oh, yes… that's why you looked familiar. You're traveling with her, right?"
"Yeah and consider yourself lucky that we're inside of Meltokio, otherwise I would kick your ass."
"Can't say I don't deserve the treatment," Zelos said, closing his eyes, sighing and looking resigned.
Marta was slightly surprised at his tone, but did not drop her guard. He could be faking it for all that she knew. The red head didn't approach her, but didn't move away either, just standing there. He then spoke:
"Is there anything I could do to change your opinion?"
"Change my opinion? Why?" Marta asked in a devious tone.
"Let's just say I hate leaving things unresolved. And, like I said before, I kinda own her that much."
His tone was honest, but Marta was still distrusting of him. Zelos seemed to notice that, for he then asked, trying to sound civil:
"Can I at least know your name, little kitten?" he added one of those charming smiles of his at the end.
Marta frowned at the nickname and scrunched her face at that. Zelos noticed it and mentally cursed his bad habit. However he couldn't help it, the girl looked like a cute kitten to him, even if she was a little on the flat side or when she was angry like this.
Guess I am a romantic after all. Zelos thought.
"I'm Marta Lualdi. There! Happy? Now leave me alon…" Marta started, however Zelos interrupted her.
"Wait. Lualdi? Like the third branch of the Sylvaranti Royal Family of the Balacruf Dynasty?" the red head said with a surprised tone. However, it didn't come even close to the horrified look on Marta's face.
"How…! Did you…?" she couldn't speak anything past that.
Just one question came to Marta's mind, repeating itself over and over: how did Zelos, of all people, know about it? Her family was the least known branch of the Sylvaranti Royal family, almost completely unknown to the general public. Sure there were official records about the Lualdis; however they were all destroyed together with the now obliterated Balacruf Palace, courtesy of Nebilim himself.
Zelos noticed the shocked expression on Marta features and decided he had to make himself clear. Shrugging he said in the best honest tone he could:
"My family didn't amount all of their riches by making business with just one side, if you know what I mean. However, due to our power, nobody dared to point fingers to us and there were never any evidences that could really accuse us of being traitors, courtesy of my bastard of a grandfather. Though some people did call us the 'backstabber Wilders', if the stories my dear mother told me were really accurate."
Marta gulped and cursed her stupidity. Of course the descendants of the nobles and aristocrats would know about her last name, after all there were people that made much profit in the war by making business with both sides, regardless of their own nationality.
What I'm gonna do? I can't let him go around spilling it to everybody. If Emil ever gets wind of that he will never talk to me again. And that was if she were lucky and Ratatosk was in a good mood, otherwise… well, she accepted her punish the other time the Summon Spirit had an anger attack.
"Just so you know I'm not going to tell anybody, ok?" Zelos said, interrupting Marta's thoughts.
The girl looked at him and, though there was still fear in her expression, she tried to put up as much defiance in it as possible.
"How can I trust you? What do you want?" Marta started to regret once she said it. She knew what guys like Zelos would want in exchange to keep a secret, but if it came down to it, she knew she would do that. She couldn't live with Emil hating her.
"Hey, hey, hey! Hold your horses there! I'm not that kind of guy. Well, maybe I was, but that's not the case now," Zelos said, waving his arms in front of him in a negative gesture, before assuming a thoughtful pose on the end of his line.
"I don't believe you. C'mon, spill it. Why do you want to keep this a secret?" Marta insisted.
Zelos sighed, seeing talking wasn't going to convince her he was being honest here. Anyway, there wasn't much he could do. He then decided to change his approach:
"Why does it worry you so much that your friends find it out?" Marta stopped at that and looked at him in surprise once more. "You're not the same as those who caused the war. You shouldn't burden yourself with something that was caused by your grandparents. If you want to regret something, regret what you do now, not what your parents and ancestors did."
Suddenly, Marta found her opinion of Zelos slowly changing. Wasn't the guy supposed to try and smooth her so he could have his way or use her recently discovered secret as blackmail? She hated to admit it, but he sounded nothing like the heartless, family-destroyer Sheena had described. Did he really change?
"Besides, if your friends really like you, they won't mind who your family is. Or is it because of a boy?" Marta gasped and asked how he knew. Zelos smiled as he spoke. "Simple; because I am Zelos, the Last Romantic."
Marta narrowed her eyes at him, but giggled at his antics none the less. Zelos then smiled a genuine smile at seeing her laugh. Marta then sighed, shaking her head.
"Ok. Thanks. But I am still keeping my tabs on you, just so you know," Marta warned, though she was still smiling.
"Well… aren't I loved? At least I managed to put a smile on your face," Zelos then saw a woman walking nearby. He waved to her as she giggled back and left. "Well, gotta go. See you around, hunny," he then waved to her with two fingers as he walked after the other woman.
The brunette shook her head and got up. It was strange how talking with Zelos seemed to remove a weight from her shoulders. Maybe she should give it a chance and follow his advice. She then turned and left in the direction of the lower quarters.
When Marta was out of sight, two figures materialized atop the Obelisk of Mana, one an eagle and the other a draconic-looking woman. Ventus had a frown on his avian features as he closed his eyes and Ignis seemed worried.
"This is certainly the most worrying," the Centurion of Wind said.
"So, Lady Marta was a descendant of the Balacruf Dynasty this entire time," Ignis repeated what they just heard.
"Indeed, that explains why she has been acting odd lately and matches with the other information I had…" he then turned to his brethren who used to manage the fire mana. "We should withheld this knowledge for the time being."
"But, why?"
"Because both personalities of Lord Ratatosk care for Lady Marta. Divulging this, would only sow confusion and sadness in their relationship. Besides..." Ventus looked to Marta down the stairs to the lower quarters. "We also have a duty for with the other Summon Spirits. We must respect Lady Marta's wish to keep this a secret."
Ignis could only look between Ventus and Marta. She felt bad for not telling their lord what was going on, but knew Ventus was right; they had a duty for with the other Summon Spirits. Plus, she liked the fact that Lord Ratatosk was liking somebody. She didn't want to see they separating because of something Marta didn't have any control over.
"Let's go. We still have work to do," Ventus called the draconic woman out of her thoughts.
"What work?" she asked.
"We have to report Zelos' activities to Sir Lloyd."
"Report what about whom?" Ignis asked in a clueless tone. Ventus sighed at seeing she once more lost focus of what they had been doing.
"Just follow me and keep your eyes open."
- / - / - / - / - / -
Raine was reading on the table of her and Sheena's room, checking her notes of the day to see if she documented everything. Sheena had already gone to bed, having long since given up on trying to ask Raine to turn off the lights while the woman read her large book.
The silver haired woman was also trying to think on what to do about Colette. They couldn't go on if the girl stayed like that. There had to be a way to convince Colette that they had to fight, but the mental scars of whatever had happened at Iselia were still clearly holding her down.
Raine then looked at Sheena. The violet haired ninja didn't know, but Raine had passed near the door to Marta and Colette's room and hear her and Colette talking. She analyzed what she heard with the information she had collected so far about Colette. The girl probably hid that from the citizens of Iselia, but what she said about that girl Maki matched with her sayings when she was having that crisis in training.
That girl was probably killed by the Desians in front of Colette. That would explain why she never mentioned it. Raine rationalized. She then sighed. This is turning out to be more troublesome than I expected.
Raine didn't have anything against homosexuals. After all, she was also considered a freak herself. She just found it ironic that the humans would discriminate their own kind for something as petty as who they choose to have relationships with. But she supposed that was to be expected. Humans were a race known for their wariness and hatred for what was different of their "society parameters".
It just surprises me they still clinging to such concepts even in times like this. Seems what they say is right: Humans have the tendency to, passing the war, return to their old ways.
She then heard the sound of dropping. Looking to the side Raine saw the glass rose that Zelos had given her when they arrived at Meltokio. Strangely enough, it was the rose that was dripping water. Raine reached for it and noticed its stalk seemed thinner than before and it was now warming up at her touch while more water seemed to drip from it.
Raising an eyebrow, Raine decided to test a theory and licked the petals of the rose. Her eyes widened as she came to a realization. The rose she was holding wasn't made out of glass, but from ice. But how was that possible? The technology to make something such as this was either confiscated by the Desians or lost after the end of the war. And even more so, considering the season in the Fooji continent, an ice rose shouldn't last more than a day.
Replaying the memories of that day, Raine realized another fact. She hadn't noticed it at the time, too distracted by Zelos' manners and attempts at wooing them. The Cruxis' Representative didn't buy these roses. He made them himself. At that exact moment.
Is he…?
- / - / - / - / - / -
The party was eating breakfast. They intended to go to the Coliseum for practice once more after they were done. Sheena was still trying to figure out what to do about Colette and Raine seemed to be in deep thought. Lloyd, surprisingly enough, had gobbled up his entire breakfast and didn't even ask for seconds, saying he was going outside to see something. Sheena and Raine raised eyebrows at his strange behavior.
The red clad swordsman met with Ignis and Ventus outside of the Inn, near one of the collapsed bridges of the middle quarters of the city, specifically the one that fell right in front of the ancient Elemental Research Laboratory. He asked for their report on what Zelos had been doing during the other day.
Ventus told his observations on the Cruxis' Representative, since Ignis didn't even seem to recall what they had been doing the other day. Lloyd, to say the least, was surprised. Zelos really looked like somebody different from the guy Sheena had described. Seems like he was telling him the truth.
"Also, he met Lady Marta on the Obelisk's plaza and talked to her," Ventus continued with his report.
"Wait. Marta? What was she doing there?" Lloyd asked.
"She seemed really sad," Ignis said.
"Indeed. It looked like she was troubled, but Zelos..." Ventus continued.
"Zelos what?" a new voice sounded, startling the Centurions and making Lloyd jump on his place as he turned. The trio saw, to their apprehension, that it was Sheena. "You said Zelos right? Why are you talking about him?" she asked in a serious tone.
"Err... ahem... I was just talking to Sir Lloyd about it," Ventus said, trying to regain his composure.
"Wait a minute," Sheena interrupted the bird-like Centurion, looking at Lloyd. "You've met with him?"
Lloyd looked to the duo of Ratatosk's servants behind him, but the two avoided looking at him. Seeing there was nothing he could do to avoid it, Lloyd decided to tell the truth. The dual swordsman then told Sheena about his talk with Zelos, including the part where he brought out his sword, though he didn't really intend to use it. At the end, he saw she had a thoughtful look on her features.
"Um... Sh-Sheena?" said woman looked at him, making him almost gasp. "I-I-I'm sorry for doing it! But I need to know what had happened and... !"
Sheena held her hand up to tell him to stop. Lloyd did so at the same instant, gulping. He wondered if he could convince her to spare his most vulnerable parts.
"Look, I'm not angry at you for seeking answers out of that guy. Actually, I don't give a damn about anything that is related to him," the ninja said in a decisive tone.
"Not even if he changed?" Ignis asked.
"No."
"Or if he helped Lady Marta?"
"No... Wait. He helped who?"
Ventus then told what he and Ignis had witnessed in the Obelisk's plaza, minus the part about Marta's family's ancestry. Sheena was actually surprised by hearing that. So that was why Marta seemed better when she returned to the Inn the other day. The violet haired woman shook her head and spoke:
"Ah, whatever! Look, I don't want to know what he does or not, ok?" her tone was definitive and didn't leave space for discussion. Lloyd and the Centurions nodded to her. "Ok, now let's go back. All this talk makes me want to have a little spar."
- / - / - / - / - / -
A lone figure was approaching the gates of Meltokio. The guards stationed there arched their eyebrows at seeing the clothes the stranger wore. Nonetheless, they stood in a battle stance, grabbing their lances firmly as they said:
"State your identity and business!"
The stranger smiled an almost fanged smile at those words, like he had expected they would say that. The guards eyed the figure, head to bottom, taking in the strange, silver, ornate, thin armor, with an V opening in its front that went from the collar until the middle of the thorax, the clawed, metal boots, the greaves of the same color as the chest armor with a metal skirt and black, hugging shorts, the clawed gauntlets with one, crimson crystal at the back of each and last, but no less impressive, his outlandish, angular features, almost like those of the long-gone elves, and his blood-red hair and eyes, which seemed to gleam.
The figure's hair fell until the middle of his back, being divided into several, thick strands, which pointed to all directions. He also had some marks on his face, almost like those of tribal warriors. There was also a strange aura about that person, one that screamed that you shouldn't get in this person's way, unless you wanted to regret it dearly later. Combined with his pale complexion, it was enough to say the guards gripped their weapons tighter.
"Who am I?" the stranger repeated in a soft, melodious voice, but laced with malice. "I am the ultimate avenger. And my business here is simple... I came to bring an end to everything you know." Nebilim's smile turned into a fanged grin...
Wow! Am I evil or not? That's what I call a cliffhanger, don't you think guys?
*Receives death stares from the readers*
Erm... anyway. A huge thanks to Maurice A. Nigma for the help and... *stares continue* for those that didn't guess, the tittle of the chapter reffers to Colette, Marta and Zelos, in that specific order.
*still receiving stares. Starts to sweat*
BYE!
*dashes out of the room as an agry mob gives chase*